Detector mechanism for capping machines



June 20, 1944. R. J. STEWART 2,351,888

DETECTOR MECHANISM FOR CAPPING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. '7, 1959 Rohm; J zeilarr- .June 20,1944. R. J. STEWART 2,351,888

DETECTOR MEGHAISM FOR CAPPING MACHINES Filed Deo. 7; 1959 2 sheets-sheet 2 Rov' Ji Si'ewyad',

Piuma .time zo, 1944 y' DETECTOR MECHANISM FOR CAPPIN G MACHINES Robert J. Stewart, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Crown Cork Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation oi' New York Application December 7V, 1939, Serial No. 308,097

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to a detector mechanism for capping machines and, more particularly, to a mechanism for indicating any failure inthe supply or application of caps.

Container handling apparatus of the type in which caps, for example, of the crowntype, are applied to bottles or other containers ordinarily include a moving capping head which, in one position, receives a cap from a cap supply chute and, in another position, applies the cap to a container. 4

nIf the supply of caps in the cap chute becomes exhausted, or if through some momentary fault a cap is not placed in a capping head prior to the movement of that capping head toward a bottle, at least one bottle will be left uncapped. At the present time such a condition can only be guarded against by constant observation of the bottles coming from the machine. In most plants, an attendant is stationed some distance from the filling machine to carefully inspect bottles passing directly in front of him. By the time that an uncapped bottle reaches this attendant, a number of uncapped bottles may be in the line between the illling machine and the inspector, all of which will have tobe re-passed through the capping mechanism. Also, in many plants mixing machines whichv turn the container vertically endwise are placed between the iilling machine and the inspector. If an uncapped container moves into the mixing machine, its entire contents will be wasted when the container is inverted.

Theprincipal object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism which will give an alarm or stop the machine in the event that the supply of caps to a capping head becomes depleted or if a particular container does not have a cap applied thereto. The invention may be so installed upon a capping machine that it will be eiIectivein case either one or both of the above diillculties should occur.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism for the above purposes which will be simple in construction and operation and which vcan be readily applied to the usual capping machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cap feed detector which will not interfere with the feeding of caps to the capping heads.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a detector mechanismof the nature de scribed above .which is electrically controlled through a circuit of such arrangement that the operation of the device will be entirely positive.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the mechanism for detecting the absence of a cap upon a bottle. the view being taken in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 3.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the upper housing of the device of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the circuit provided in the event that mechanisms of the present invention are to be applied to a capping mechanism for indicating a failure in the supply of caps in the cap chute and also the absence of a cap from bottles after they have moved beneath the capping head, and

Figure 4 is a detail vertical section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

'I'he numeral I0 designates the work table of a filling machine having a detector mechanism II provided thereon for the purpose of checking the presence of caps upon bottles which have moved beneath the capping mechanism. The mechanism II is positioned at a point on the work vtable past which bottles will move after they have been through the capping mechanism, this point preferably being adjacent the outfeed dial I2 of the machine, that is, the dial which moves the bottles from the capping mechanism to the usual straight line conveyor I3 which conducts the bottles from the machine. The usual guide nated by the numeral I4 in Figure 1.

The mechanism II is positioned above the path of movement of bottles with the outfeed dial I2, the mechanism being mounted upon a hollow post I5 iixed to the table I0 and through which post the necessary electrical connections may extend. A horizontally extending casing I6 projects from the post I5 outwardly over the periphery of the outfeed dial I2, the casing I6 preferably comprising a flat base plate I'I to which a cover I 8 of inverted box form is secured by means of machine screws such as I9.

A pair of collars 2li formed of insulating material are mounted in apertures in the lower wall of the ibase plate I'I and a hollow metal sleeve 2| is rotatably positioned in each collar 20. the sleeves extending above and below the collars. On their portions within the housing I6 each sleeve 2l has a lever 22 of insulating material 55 secured thereto by means of a machine screw 23 plate surrounding the outfeed dial I2 is desig-V through aligned holes in the sleeve 2i. Each lever 22 at its rearward end carries an angled contact member 24 which is secured to the lever by the screw 2l, screw 28 also serving as a binding post for a conductor wire, the wire to one lever being designated by the numeral 2l and the wire to the other lever being designated by the numeral 28. Theopposite or free arms of the contacts 24 face a spring pressed bridging contact 21 against which the two contacts 24 vstud 8| in a base block I2 extending upwardly from the base plate I1 ofthe casing.` A spring 88 is positioned on the stud 8i between the base block 82 and the plate 80, spring 88 being of somewhat greater strength than the spring provided on the stud 28. 'I'he -base block 82 includes laterally extending anges 84 by means of which it is secured to the base plate I1 by screws 84a. It will be observed from the above that the bridging contact 21 is supported from the base block 32 but is entirely insulated therefrom and also that the position of the bridging contact with respect tolA thebase block as well as to the two contacts 24 may be varied by adjustment of the large stud 8l, the adjustment being maintained by the spring I8. Stud 8| is accesrible for adjustment through an aperture 8l in the side wall of the cover i8 normally closed by a small threaded cover plate as shown in vIiigure 2.

Below the base plateil or housing I6 the pivot sleeves 2| have plates 80 or brush members, i. e.. contact members, secured thereto by radial pins 88 and at their outer ends the plates 88 carry metal blocks 4l preferably having bristles 4I extending from the same. As best shown -in Figure 3, the brushes are so angled that the bristles 4i'wil1 be arranged on a line extending substantially radially of the outfeed dial I2, or at least along aline transverse to the path of movement of the bottle.

y 2,851,888 which is threaded into a socket in the arm and bottles move prior to their delivery to the outfeed dial I2. The numeral 48 indicates the usual cap supply chute having its lower end curved inwardly to be opposite the capping chamber 4t of each capping head 41 so that a cap C will be supplied to the capping chamber from the lower end of the chute as the head rotates past the chute.

The mechanism 4I illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 involves' brush elements, i. e., contact elements. 88 positioned adjacent each side of the cap supply chute 48 with wire bristles 5I included in the brush elements extending into slots 52 formed in the rearward corners of the chute so that caps moving downwardly through the chute will have their opposite edges or skirt portions come into contact with the inner ends of the bristles 5i.

' The brush members I8 are of a length longitudin; wm be observed from the above that in the detector mechanism Il thesprlng 22a connecting the two upper arms or levers 22 will normally draw the free ends of these arms toward each other with the result that the contacts 24 ilxed to the Opposite ends of the arms will be urged into engagement with the bridging contact 21. A circuit will therefore normally be closed between the conductor leads 25 and 26 and through the contacts 24 and bridging contact 21. Simultaneously. the lower and brush carrylng arms 88 will be urged toward each other.

Obviously. if the brush arms 18 are forced apart, the contact arms 22 will likewise swing apart against the'aetion oi the spring 22a so as to move the contacts 24 out of engagement with the the leads 2l and 28.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a detector mechanism 4S applied to :the cap supply chute of the capping mechanism. The numeral 48 designates a capping mechanism casting of the type provided with a plurality of reciprocable capping heads 41 'robridging contact 21 to open the circuit between tating above a capping dialA through which the nally of the chute substantially corresponding to twice the diameter of a cap C as shown in dotted 'lines in Fig. 4 so that under normal circumstances two caps C may be in Contact with the bristles 5I. 'Ihis will insure that the circuit will be maintained between the bristles 5I by at least one cap during the time when a lower cap is leaving the bristles while a second cap is entering between the same from above.

In order to insure that the caps will not become lodged between the opposed bristles tl and thereby stop the feeding of caps to the capping heads, continuous blasts of air are directed upon the interiors of caps which are between the bristles through tubes 58 connected to the usual air blast tube, not shown, which is positioned to direct air upon the caps in the lower part of the chute to force them into the capping head. As is best shown in Figure 4, a. suflloient number of air blast tubes 58 is provided to insure that caps will be subjected to an air blast during their entire passage between the bristles 5f. The bristles BI are, of course, so arranged that they will not come into contact with any metal portion ofthe cap chute 48.

The circuit to which the detector mechanisms ii and 45 are connected receives power through two main leads and 8|. Main 80 is connected by a lead 82 with the lead 25 of the mechanism Il. 'I'he lead 28 of mechanism Il is connected as diagrammatically shown in Figure 3 with leads 88 and 88a extending to one brush l0 of the detector mechanism 45. The other brush 50 of detector mechanism 45 loins a lead 84 connected to one side of the coil 88 of an electro-magnet or control device. I'he other side of coil 881s connected to a lead 88 which extends to a fixed contact 61 ordinarily connected by a movable contact t8 with a second fixed contact 8! connected by a lead 10 to the other main lead 8|. movable contact 68 is carried by a bell crank 1I suitably connected to an armature, not shown, controlled by the coil 8l and so long as the coil is energized, the movable contact 88 will be held upward to bridge the fixed contacts 81 and 89.

Bell crank 1I also carries, insulated from contact 88, two other contacts 14 and 1l facing in the opposite direction from contact 88. When the coil 88 is deenergized, as subsequently explained, contact 14 will bridge a contact 16 and a contact 11, while contact 18 will simultaneously bridge two xed contacts 18 and 18. Contact 16 is joined to upper ilxed contact 88 by a lead 80 while its associated contact 11 is connected by a The= its associated contact is connected by a lead 85 to lead 53 at a point in advance of the lead 88a.

When the circuity through the coil 85 is interrupted either by opening of the circuit in detector 45 or momentary opening oi circuit through detector mechanism the bell-crank or armature 1| will drop to cause contacts 14 and 15 to each bridge the opposed pairs of lower contacts. As a result current will ilow through the lamp 83 and resistor, as hereinafter explained. Ii' deaired leads .80 and 8| may be connected in the lamp circuit to simultaneously actuate a relay to stop the motor of the capping` mechanism.

In thevoperation of the apparatus, so long as caps C are moving downwardly in regular order through the cap supply chute 48 and so long as each bottle has a cap applied thereto by the capping mechanism, the series circuit through the detector mechanism and coil 85 will remain as illustrated in Figure 3. That is, the coil 85 will receive uninterrupted current and will be energized due to the fact that one or more caps will constantly bridge the bristles 5| of the brushes 55 of the detector mechanism 45 and a constant current will flow through the detector mechanism which, like the detector mechanism 45, is in series with the coil 85.

The operation of the detector mechanism is as follows: During the time that no bottle is passing through the mechanism, leads and 28 will be joined for current ilow by engagement of bridging contact 21 by contacts 24 as shown in Figure 2. When a bottle with a cap C applied thereto moves from the capping mechanism and the cap moves into engagement with the bristles 4| of the detector mechanism a circuit will immediately be closed from lead 25 through the binding post 23 and sleeve 2| and thence through the arms 38 and bottle cap C to the opposite sleeve 2| and binding post connected to lead 28. When the full diameter of the bottle cap comes between the bristles 4|, the arms 38 will be spread as indicated in Figure 3 with the result that the upper arms or levers 22 will also be spread and will turn with their pivot sleeves 2| in the insulating sleeves 2li so as to swing the contacts 24 out of engagement with the bridging contact 21. However, since a path for the current to the coil 55 has already been set up through the bottle cap, the supply of current to the coil will not be interrupted. The contacts 24, of course, again come into engagement with the bridging contact 21 before the cap C moves out of engagement with the bristles 4| In the event that through some temporary failure a capping head does not receive a cap from the cap supply chute 48, with the result that the bottle subsequently moving beneath that capping head does not have a cap supplied thereto, the circuit through the detector mechanism will be interrupted when the brush carrying arms are spread apart by the uncapped bottle. As a Ill) result, the coil will be de-energized, permitting the `armature 1| to drop so that the contacts 14 and 15 carried thereby will drop to respectively engage the lower pairs of fixed contacts 18-11 and 18-19. Because of this, and also because the circuit across the movable contact 21 of the detector mechanism will again be closed as soon as the uncapped bottle has passed out of engagement with the bristles 4|, a circuit will be *established from main 5I) through leads 82 and 25 and across bridging contact 21 to leads 28 and 53 and thence through lead 85 to contacts 18, 15

and 18 to lamp 83, resistor 82, lead 8| and con- 75 tacts11, 14and18toleads88and18. Thelamp 82 will thereby be illuminated toV give an indication that a failure has occurred. It the succeeding bottles all have caps upon the same, the circuit last described will not be interrupted during the time that that bottle is spreading apart the brush carrying arms 38, so that the lamp 83 will remain lighted. However, should a succeeding I relay is connected in the lamp circuit it will stop the motor. This latter control should be such as to prevent the motor from restarting when the lamp circuit is momentarily extinguished as by an uncapped bottle as described above.

In order to cause the circuit to be restored to its normal position, an attendant must press the reset button upon the armature 1| so as to cause the movable contact 88 to engage the upper ilxed contacts 81 and 58 so that current will again ow through the electromagnet 85. It will be observed that the device cannot he reset o r maintained in normal position unless each bottle moving through the detector mechanism has a cap applied thereto, or unless a continuous stream of caps is moving between the bristles 5| of the detector mechanism 45.

The provision of the air blast nozzles 53 adjacent the contacts 50 of the detector mecha-- nism 45 insures that the movement of caps through the chute will not be retarded by the bristles.

It will be apparent that in case it is not desired to use both detectors and 45 upon a machine, either one may be used, in which case the circuit would be modiiled by closing the portion of the circuit occupied by the same.

Ii desired, coil 55 and the lamp circuit may be omitted and, instead, both of the detectors and 45, or either detector, may be connected in series with a conventional magnetic switch coil in such manner that if the series circuit is broken by cap failure, the machine will be stopped.

The terminology used in the speciilcation is for the purpose oi description, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

I claim:

l. The combination in a capping mechanism of opposed contact elements in the cap supply chute and opposed contact elements in the path of containers moving from the capping mechanism, said respective opposed .contacts adapted to be respectively bridged by caps moving through the cap chute and by caps upon containers, and a control device arranged in circuit with said respective contact devices.

2. The combination in a capping mechanism of opposed contact elements -in the cap supply chute and opposed contact elements in the path of containers moving from the capping mechanism, said respective opposed contacts adapted to be respectively bridged by caps moving through the cap chute and by caps upon containers, a current responsive device in series with said contact devices, and a secondary control circuit controlled by said current responsive device.

3. The combination in a capping mechanism o! opposed contact elements in the cap supply chute and contact elements in the path oi' containers moving from the capping mechanism. said respective opposed contacts adapted to be 'respectively bridged by caps moving through the cap chute and by caps upon containersh s current responsive device in circuit with sa'idecontacttdevices. and a secondary control circuit adapted to be actuated upon interruptionot current to said current responsive x device.

4. Infcombination. means to move containers, a support, a pair oi' opposer contact members movably mounted on said support. means assoelated 'with said members to normally close a circuit between the same, a contra device in circuit with 'said members, a second means carried by said members to contact with the cap upon a container to close an alternate circuit through 'the can; said members being so arranged thatl said alternate circuit will be closed before the circuit through said nrst contact members is opened.

5. Inz combination, means to move containers, a support, a pair of pivoted arms carried on said support, said arms being provided with bottle cap brushes'at their free ends and contact members adjacent their pivots, the brush and contact of each arm being electrically conuectedi` and a spring pressed contact adapted to normally engage said' contacts, said contacts beingearranged in a circuit including a control de 6. In combination. means to move containers. la support. a pair o! opposed contact members movably mounted on said support. means associated with said members to normally close the circuit between the same. and a control device in circuit with said members. said contacts being adapted to be separated by a capped con tainer and the circuit normally through the same bypassed by the container cap.

7. In combination. a support, a pair of pivoted arms carried on said support. said arms being provided with bottle' cap engaging brushes at their free ends and contact members adjacent their pivots, the brush and contact oi' each arm being adapted to be electrically connected, and a spring jpressed contact adapted to normally engage said contacts. said contacts bei118 adapted to be arranged' in a circuit includins a control device.

8. 'I'he combination in a oapplns mechanism. ot a Vsupply chute i'or skirted metal caps. a pair ofresilient contact elements projecting into the chute sumciently tar to exert pressure upon the caps in a direction transversely oi the chute, said resilient elements having a length longitudinalLv o! the chute substantially corresponding to twice the diameter ot the caps, a control circuit connected to each iof said contacts, said circuit being normally closed by the engagement of caps with both contacts. and. means to positively move caps by said contacts.

nom'r J. STEWART. 

